NONE of these totals count dinner since it varies. Slight variations may be made from day to day. Weight Gainer might be replaced with turkey and tuna on wheat with milk, small things like that so I don’t get bored with my food every day. I take fish oil with every big meal and flaxseed. I also snack on walnuts/mixed nuts through out the day and drink 1-2 gallons of water.Calories...3678Protein.... 342Fat....40Carbs…360

I will update my progress after every workout.

_________________________
To subdue the enemy without fighting is the highest skill."
~ Sun Tzu ~

Ditch the weight gainer and have your lunch after your workout. You need 2 protein shakes in the evening like a hole in the head, ditch them and have the cottage cheese around 7.30 pm instead.

your training is geared towards strength/power, yet your diet is geared towards mass/hypertrophy. Choose the right tools for the job.

Even Ronnie Coleman would get by on the amount of protein you intend to shovel into your body. You cannot process that much. The workouts look OK, but the diet is largely unnecessary, and will lead to you flushing money, and unprocessed protein, down the toilet.

Well according to the book that the routine comes from you're suppose to eat 3000-4000 calories a day. I'm actually looking to put on size over speed and power, size is my biggest goal right now, this routine has been praised over and over for being the best routine to put size on beginners. It of course is also geared towards large strength gains. What the routine is said to do is help you gain maximum size while gaining maximum strength, then by the time you stop gaining muscle on this routine, your strength will be much higher allowing you to do a harder body building routine.

However, the diet I definetly needed help on. Thank you Cord, I will ditch the shakes, save some cash.

_________________________
To subdue the enemy without fighting is the highest skill."
~ Sun Tzu ~

3000-4000 calories eh? see how you go. The pages of a book should not be followed blindly. 3000-4000 calories is fine if you have great genes and a high metabolism, but lets put it this way, I train 6 days a week, weigh a lean 218lbs, and if I ate 3-4 thousand calories a day, I would look like the pilsbury doughboy. Be honest with yourself on this plan, if you see you are smoothing out and putting on inches at the waist, not the chest, calm you food intake down.

As for the training, if mass is your goal, I would tweak the rep range of your workouts to 6-8, going to momenatary failure on each set. It will give you better results.

hehe over 300 grams of protein? That's a little excessive, most of us will grow on a gram per lb of bodyweight Your commitment is admirable but, to be honest, you're going to get very bored of that diet very quickly... Mix it up a bit, don't get anal, and as Cord says, calorie guidelines are silly. I'll eat 3500 cals a day, at a lean 154lbs (man it feels good to say that) , but I'm a 17 y/o mesomorph with a metabolism like a hummingbird on coke

As far as a strength routine, I think the workout looks good - but for hypertrophy, up the rep ranges as Cord suggests. However, as I'm forever trying to tell myself, increased strength = increased capacity for hypertrophy. Besides, you're new to this so you could grow on pretty much anything.

EDIT: Oh, and if you're doing cardio, then it's going to be harder to grow. I mean, nothing you can't deal with, but if you're relatively fit already, you could consider ditching the cardio for a couple of months, or at least cutting it down a bit. One thing I've noticed is that a lot of us 'eager' people overdo the intensity on the cardio and end up overtraining. I'm very careful now not to go too heavy on the anaerobic endurance, and to keep my CNS in one piece for lifting and plyometrics.

Well according to what I read anyone whose skinny, with under a year of training can put on about a pound a week on this routine. I figure I'm going to do this routine until I have added 100 pounds to each lift. From there I'm going to move on to more of a body building routine.

_________________________
To subdue the enemy without fighting is the highest skill."
~ Sun Tzu ~

Eating properly is also important. It has been recommended, and I follow this practice, to eat 5 to 6 meals a day. These are not big meals but smart meals. What you would normally eat “to be fit” in a day, break up into 5 to 6 smaller meals. I’ll try to explain the reasoning behind this.

Take an average person who is fit and eats 3 meals a day like the normal population. When they eat their body will use whatever it needs for energy at that time and then the rest will be stored for energy later on … in other words fat. They continue on like this but for many this little bit of fat become more of a problem especially when they get older and their metabolism slows down and they cannot burn this energy/fat as effectively so it becomes more noticeable. Now by breaking these 3 meals down into 5 or 6 meals, your body can only use what energy is given and if it needs more it will need to use the energy that it has in store … fat. This is why I would suggest for even the average person who wishes to loose a few pounds to try this instead of a diet; cut back what you eat but eat smarter.

Now weight lifters will need to increase what they eat and one of the things you will need to increase is your protein intake. Now this can be done through foods or supplements but this will have to be your choice. You may find that the time to prepare something vs. the cost to purchase something goes one way or the other; you choose for you. I would also suggest after a heavy workout that immediately within an hour period that you take some protein and here is why.

The body has a built-in survival drug hormone called “cortisol”. Immediately following a high-intensity workout the body pumps this hormone whose function is to carry off protein to the liver where it converts it to glucose, which provides energy for the body. The longer and harder the workout the more cortisol is pumped. Why is this important to replenish protein? The largest supply of protein in your body is your muscles … so this is the first place attacked by the cortisol and why it is important to replenish the protein immediately. When the protein is destroyed in the muscles this is known as a “catabolic state”. Another reason that this is important is that our immune system is based on proteins and if this is attacked by the cortisol this can weaken our defense mechanisms.

Now how much protein does one need to take? The answer is not as much as you think you do. Non active people need .36 grams per pound of bodyweight per day. For an active person such as a weight lifter it is recommended that you need 0.6136 grams per pound of body weight per day. (i.e. 200 pound athlete would required 122.72 grams of protein per day). Remember more is not better when it comes to protein intake. In fact there are studies that show that excessive protein intake over extended periods of time can possibly seriously damage your liver or kidneys.

Here are some other factors of I have come up during my search for knowledge on weight lifting. This may vary from other sources and people but is a ”guideline”. Carbohydrates are the main source of energy for athletes. From 60-65% of your diet should be carbohydrates, 15-20% should be fats (yes fats … the good kind … such as Omega 3,6 and 9 which are essential) and 15-20% should be proteins.

How about calories? It is recommended that that in order to maintain ones body weight they should take their body weight in pounds and multiple it by 20. Therefore a 200 pound man would need 4000 calories to maintain his body weight. To build muscle, and thus gain weight, you need to increase your calories slightly by adding 400 to 600 more calories total. Taller, younger, heavier, and more active people generally require more calories per day then do shorter, older, lighter and less active people. Here is another guideline:

If you are getting bigger and stronger without adding noticeable fat to your waist then you are okay. If you do notice that you are gaining extra weight here then cut back 100 calories until the fat disappears.

_________________________"IF I COME ... I'M BRINGING THE PAIN WITH ME"

Quote:Well according to what I read anyone whose skinny, with under a year of training can put on about a pound a week on this routine. I figure I'm going to do this routine until I have added 100 pounds to each lift. From there I'm going to move on to more of a body building routine.

Heh, with that diet, you will be lucky to get away with only putting on 1lb a week Weight gain means nothing, if I had my way, scales and BMI charts would be banned- they tell you nothing constructive about your progress. You simply will not put on 1lb per week of lean muscle, sorry. That potentialy, would be nearly 2 stone of muscle in 6 months- you would be unlikely to achieve that with a specific bodybuilding routine and the aid of amabolic steroids, let alone with a strength specific routine, and and basic good nutrition.

As for adding 100lbs across the board on all exercises, again, wishfull thinking. You will find you have 'good' and 'bad' exercises. ie. some you will absolutely beast, and the weights will creep up nicely. Others will fight you like a spoilt toddler at bedtime, just refusing to respond to your best efforts.

It sounds like you have bought a book that believes in itself, and is happy to sell a 'perfect world' dream. We would all like to live in that world, but be prepared for your 4000 cals to make you fat, and for some of your exercises not to progress nearly as well as it says on page 21. Thats the truth. miserable isnt it? you wouldnt pay 20 bucks for a book full of it would you? Hence the 'optimism' of the author of your book